"Corrupted Surge."
The words left Jagger's mouth like a trigger being pulled.
Power flooded him.
It was not gentle. It did not ease its way in. It detonated through his veins in a violent rush, blood roaring in his ears as nerves lit up one after another like exposed wiring thrown into a live circuit. Adrenaline spiked past anything human, past fear, past reason. For one brief, crystalline instant, the world unfolded in impossible clarity.
He felt everything.
The subtle tension in Hector's prosthetic fingers. The micro-vibrations hum through the reinforced floor beneath his boots. The precise angle and pressure of the dagger biting into the skin of his throat. The cold, predatory intent rolling off Kade like heat from an open furnace.
Time slowed.
The blade at Jagger's neck became a line of inevitability, thin and absolute.
Then he moved.
He did not retreat. He did not flinch. He ignored the blade as it slid across his throat, steel carving flesh like butter beneath a hot knife. Crimson sprayed outward in a violent arc, hot and wet against his collar and chest. Pain had not come yet. Pain lagged behind motion.
The movement was so sudden, so feral, that Hector did not even have time to react.
It was like watching a beast erupt from inside a prey animal.
Hector's prosthetic arm whistled through space where Jagger's neck had been a fraction of a second earlier, the jagged dagger cutting nothing but air. The shock on Hector's face shifted instantly to horror as he registered what had happened. Blood was already soaking into Jagger's collar, vivid and terrifying.
"Holy shit! Kid, what the fuck did I just…!"
"JAGGER!"
Porpo's scream ripped through the room, raw and unfiltered. The sound shattered the tension like glass struck by a hammer. Her magic fizzled uselessly from her fingertips as her entire world collapsed down to the sight of her friend bleeding out in front of her.
That single cry snapped everyone out of their battle-ready stances.
Every head turned.
That was all the opening Jagger needed.
The distance was short. His vision tunneled. He did not charge Kade upright. He launched low and fast, a mindless, animalistic dive driven by nothing but murderous instinct. Not to disarm. Not to restrain.
To kill.
'Move your head to the left.'
The command was not spoken. It bypassed thought entirely.
Jagger's head shifted.
A blade sliced past his right ear, close enough to shear a few strands of hair free.
'Duck, shift right, lunge forward.'
The command struck before thought.
Jagger's knees folded, and his head dipped beneath the sweeping blade. Steel hissed over him, close enough to slice a few strands of hair as it carved through the air where his neck had been. He let the motion carry him through, sliding past the attacker's centerline instead of retreating.
His weight dropped into a low lateral lunge.
One boot skidded across rain-slick marble, his body slipping to the outside of the strike as the blade completed its arc behind him. His hand brushed the ground for balance, torso twisting, hips loading with coiled tension. From the outside, it looked less like a calculated maneuver and more like a desperate dive, like a volleyball player throwing himself low to strike a ball upward before it touched the floor.
The moment stretched.
Then he drove forward.
Jagger's fist tore up from below, knuckles cutting a tight line through the air. They skimmed past Jane's forehead by inches as he surged between her and Kade, the motion violent and precise all at once.
Impact.
His knuckles smashed into the soft underside of Kade's chin with a brutal crack, the force snapping the man's head back and lifting him off his feet. The upward momentum carried through Jagger's shoulder and spine as Kade's body arched, airborne, the strike launching him backward out of the store and into the atrium beyond, crashing into the makeshift tents and people near the Christmas tree with a tangled thud.
'Behind, grab weapon and push up.'
Jagger was already turning.
The shotgun barrel filled his vision. His left hand shot up, clamping around it. He did not fight for control. He leveraged it.
He shoved the barrel upward just as the trigger was pulled. The blast thundered into the ceiling, detonating plaster and dust in a choking cascade that rained down around them. Jagger moved with the recoil.
His grip slid down the length of the barrel, fingers locking around the lanky man's wrist instead. He stepped in close, shoulder driving under the attacker's arm as he pivoted sharply, turning his back into the man's chest. The motion wrapped the arm across his shoulder like a hooked lever.
For a heartbeat, they were locked together. Then Jagger dropped his weight.
His free hand clamped over the attacker's forearm and yanked down while he rose through his legs, shoulder lifting as the fulcrum. The elbow was bent the wrong way. A dry crack split through the store. The lanky man screamed, body folding forward as the shotgun slipped from numb fingers and clattered across the marble floor.
The burly woman raises her blade, "Motherfucker..."
"Porpo! Lynisssssss~"
Jagger spun toward her, dragging the injured man with him like a human shield, but the shout died in his throat. Vertigo hit him like a hammer. Blood surged up his mouth, warm and metallic, spraying across the floor as his vision blurred violently.
Jane's world narrowed.
She was still on the floor, blood in her mouth, but the fear was gone and burned away by what she was seeing. Jagger staggering. Blood was pouring from his neck. The wild, impossible defiance in his movements.
"I'll kill yo-" Lynis slammed into the burly woman, tackling her to the ground. Her blade skittered away across the marble.
Porpo screamed, green wisps of Gale Trigger spiraling around her finger as she aimed at Hector. "Get back! Drop your fucking weapon!"
But her eyes were on Jagger.
He stumbled, then roared. A deafening, primal scream tore from his chest as he forced himself upright, legs kicking out to regain balance and shove the injured man off him.
[Regeneration initiated]
The bleeding slowed. Not stopped but controlled. The arterial spray dulled into a steady flow. Flesh around the deep cut crawled and twisted, slowly knitting together, horrifically, skin pulling closed like living worms.
Jagger staggered to Jane, scooped her fallen dagger from the floor, and planted himself in front of her. He stood shaking, agony screaming through every nerve, blood dripping onto the marble as he raised the blade defensively and faced the atrium.
Kade was already pushing himself up.
"That was quite a punch, kid," Kade said, rolling his shoulders as both arms lifted. Two xiphos materialized in his hands, twin blades gleaming with faint dark energy. "How about you try that again?"
Jagger's vision swam, pain clawing at his neck, but he held his stance. Crimson burned faintly in his eyes as raw rage drowned everything else.
People backed away from Kade. Hunters vaulted down from the second-floor railings, weapons drawn, surrounding the area in silence. Kade lifted one blade, and they froze instantly.
[Regeneration completed]
"Hey, Ophilia... thanks for that," Jagger mumbled in a whisper.
Jane was still lying where she had tackled, her hands trembling before balling them into fists. A thin smear of blood ran from her nose to her lips, but her eyes were clear now, the fear burned away by something colder.
"Get up, Jane," he said quietly, voice low but firm. "Doesn't look great for us when our leader is down."
She let out a slow breath.
For a brief second, she stayed there, grounding herself, shoulders rising and falling as she forced her pulse back under control. Then she planted her boot, pushed through the ache in her ribs, and rose in one fluid motion. A dagger materialized in her hand, spun once before settling into a reverse grip, her stance snapping back into place beside him as if she had never been on the floor at all.
She stepped close enough that their shoulders nearly touched.
"Don't worry about me, liability," she replied, voice steady despite the blood at the corner of her mouth. "You're the one who was just leaking all over the place."
Jagger coughed up blood and spat, "I'm fine," he said, though the words were strained. "All healed up."
Shin Lu and Aiko burst out from the command center at a hard pace, boots striking the marble with sharp authority. Their arrival hit the atrium like a physical force, cutting through the rising chaos that had spiraled from the Mont Blanc store. Conversations died mid-sentence. Hunters who had been inching closer froze where they stood. Even the hum of the overhead lights seemed to dim beneath the weight of Shin Lu's presence.
His mismatched eyes swept across the scene in a single, precise pass. Broken boxes. Drawn blades. Lynis is pinning one hunter to the ground. Porpo is standing rigid with magic coiling around her fingers. Jagger and Jane shoulder to shoulder, blood still glistening along Jagger's collar despite the fading wounds. Kade stood opposite them, twin xiphos raised, dark energy licking along their edges as the rest of the hunters stood by, surrounding the storefront.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?" Shin Lu's voice cracked through the atrium like thunder, reverberating off the glass railings and high ceiling. Several hunters visibly flinched, their grips tightening on weapons they suddenly seemed unsure about holding.
"Kade. Stand. Down," he commanded, each word heavy with absolute authority. His gaze locked onto the man with the xiphos, unblinking and cold.
Kade did not lower his blades. Instead, he lifted one slightly, angling its tip toward Jagger. The muscles in his jaw flexed as fury tightened his expression. "I'm going to kill this fucker," he snarled, voice low and venomous.
From the floor nearby, the lanky man writhed and clutched his ruined arm, tears mixing with saliva as pain tore through him. "Kade, man, help me, my fucking arm. HE FUCKING BROKE IT." His voice cracked into a high, desperate wail that echoed across the marble.
"Oi, Chibai! Shut the fuck up," Lynis barked back, breath still heavy from the fight. He sat squarely on the burly woman's upper back, as she struggled beneath him. The blade he had taken from her hovered inches from the ground, ready if she tried anything. "You woman, stop moving, ah, damn strong you."
Porpo remained exactly where she was, finger still leveled at Hector's chest. Green wisps of Gale Trigger wrapped around her hand, the air trembling with contained force. Her breathing came fast and uneven, chest rising and falling as anger and fear warred across her face.
Shin Lu stepped forward without hesitation, boots striking hard against the floor as he pushed through the ring of hunters that had begun to form. The crowd parted instinctively, giving him a clear path. He positioned himself directly between Jagger and Kade, broad shoulders squared, his presence a living barrier.
Rainwater still clung to Jagger's clothes, droplets falling steadily to the marble as he held his dagger low. Jane shifted half a step closer to him, stance tightening, eyes never leaving Kade.
"She attac-" Hector began, raising his prosthetic hand slightly as if to explain.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP ASSHOLE!" Porpo's scream tore across the atrium, raw and unfiltered. The Gale Trigger around her hands flared brighter, tiny spirals of wind whipping at loose strands of her hair. Her eyes burned with a fury that bordered on reckless. "Say one more word, and I'll make so many holes in you; you won't know where to shit from fucker."
Silence slammed down in the wake of her threat.
Hunters on the second floor leaned over the railings, watching with wide eyes. Others edged backward, unsure whether to intervene or flee. The air felt thick, heavy with heat and intent. Weapons remained drawn, muscles tensed, every heartbeat threatening to tip the balance into another explosion of violence.
The atrium had become a powder keg. One wrong movement. One careless word. And everything would ignite.
Suddenly a vast resonance rolled through the world.
Not a bell, yet unmistakably similar. A deep, ancient vibration like a colossal temple bonshō struck somewhere beyond reality.
Instantly the system forcibly materialized, visible to all hunters and non-hunters.
-
[System Integration has been completed.]
[Phase 1 of the Culling has been forcibly concluded.]
[New System Features are now active.]
[Global Quest: The Great Filter has been initiated.]